<p>What's the difference between colleges that are " x State University" and "University of x"? I can guess, but does anybody have the official definition?</p>
<p>I don't know if there's an official difference, but the "x State University" tends to be of somewhat lower quality and prestige, in my experience, than "University of x".</p>
<p>That tends to be the general rule, although there are some exceptions like LSU and Ohio State, Penn State (I guess UPenn doesn't count as a state school). But yeah, I've generally felt that "State" universities are less prestigious that the Uni. of X counterparts.</p>
<p>In California (and it might be true elsewhere too), the "California State University" is a completely separate college system from "University of California".</p>
<p>Generally speaking, the CSU system is considered to be of lower quality & prestige than the UC's - easier to get into, etc. When I was looking at schools, I visited one of the CSU's (I didn't know the difference either), and my tour guide was bragging about how many people the UC system accepted as transfers from that particular CSU. Obviously from that I got the impression that the school wasn't a big step up from a community college. Also, CSU's don't typically have Ph.D. programs for graduate studies - it's M.S. only.</p>
<p>CSUs are also cheaper...</p>
<p>California's got an entirely different thing going on, and although the prestige thing is also often correct, mostly it's just a way for a state to have multiple state schools without mixing up names to much. Like in Oregon, there's Oregon State University, University of Oregon, Southern Oregon Uni, Western Oregon Uni, Portland State, etc.</p>